Zoning

Westlake, California (I THINK WE NEED ZONING
!!!)

Black Oak Lake Area Zoning

Our 22 year District County Supervisor, Lowell Conrad (who died one week after he left
office
in April, 2006 at age 92), had the following information on the history of zoning. When the
concept first came upon
Vilas County in the mid 1900s it was agreed that the area needed
businesses to thrive. People needed places to shop and to
work while vacationers needed
rentals. So, the General Business zoning designation was applied to virtually the whole county
including all the land around Black Oak Lake. There were two resorts on the lake, Pine Terrace
in the west bay and the Black
Oak Resort next to the public beach. By the early 1970s both
resorts had shut down and sold piecemeal to private parties.
Simultaneously, mobile home parks
and rental type complexes were popping up on other county lakes. Black Oak residents
wanted to
keep the lake in the completely residential status it happened to have at that time.

BOLROA was formed in
1976 with one of its primary goals being the rezoning of the land parcels
that touch the lake from General Business to
Single-Family Residential. The organizers of that
day had a handful of objectors one of whom was Jim Lowenstine. Jim was
secretly planning the
Conserve School and intended it to be on Black Oak Lake. He needed the General
Business
zoning to continue. One of his local contractors was a Land O' Lakes Town Board member
named Gary Schmidt and through him
our proponents' efforts were repeatedly delayed, rebuffed,
or flat denied at the town level. As a last resort BOLROA tried
to go directly to the County
Board over the heads of the town. Without the Town Board's approval their effort was doomed but
at a late 1977 County Board meeting they did manage to get a 10 - 10 vote which was a denial.

In 2004 the effort was
again undertaken. This time the objections were few and there were
still no businesses on the lake. It was a 15 month
effort costing nearly $5,000 and involving
two Town Board meetings and three County Board Meetings. Finally, at their Nov 8,
2005 meeting
the Vilas County Board of Supervisors voted 21 – 0 to rezone all of the land parcels that touch
the lake except
the Public Beach and some thin access strips owned by the Town of Land O’
Lakes. It is ironic that in this successful effort
one of the key PRO votes came from the
Conserve School Board! Their reasoning was that Jim Lowenstine wanted his land to
remain
natural. With him gone (he died in 1996) the Conserve School Board signed on to our rezoning
effort as a way to
protect Jim’s land against possible rogue development plans of future
unknown boards.

The specifics are spelled out
in the Vilas County publication “Zoning District Uses”. A simple
comparison of the following two descriptions makes it
clear why the rezoning effort was so
important.

Under “General Business” we read:

The General Business
District is established to create areas for a wide variety of commercial
purposes on relatively large lots. Examples of
types of uses for which the GB District is
created include, but are not limited to, automotive sales, service and repair,
building supply
sales, recreational equipment sales and service, and retail sales and service. Non-commercial
property
owners in this district should be prepared to accept inconveniences associated with
mixing potentially non-compatible land
uses.

Under “R-1 Single-Family Residential” we read:

The purpose of the Single-Family Residential District is to
create areas for exclusively low
density residential use and prohibit the intrusion of uses incompatible with the quiet and
comfort of such areas.

In Single-Family zoning the only rentals allowed are those that legally existed before the
zoning change and continue without a 12 month interruption at any time since the change. Any property may be rented if the rental period is more than 30 consecutive days. Also,
home occupations as defined
in Article XI of the Vilas County General Zoning Ordinance are
allowed. Vilas County definitely plays hardball when it comes to zoning.Click hereto read about how a zoning violation near Presque Isle in 2014 was handled.

Protection of Black Oak Lake Tranquility

Development pressure has decimated other lakes in the area. Though we are well protected with
our zoning designation we must
realize that Board compositions change and variances can be
granted. We must be ready to mount a strong opposition to any
threat to the tranquility of
Black Oak Lake.

NOVEMBER 8, 2005. THE VILAS COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS VOTES 21 - 0 TO REZONE ALL THE
PROPERTIES
FRONTING BLACK OAK LAKE TO SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL. OUR LOWELL CONRAD IS IN THE
FAR RIGHT CORNER.